Deck-chair



R. CASSIN DECK-CHAIR May 19, 1959 3 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed Oct. 10, 1956R. CASSIN May 19, 1959 DECK-CHAIR 5 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed Oct. 10, 1956 y19, 1959 R. CASSIN 2,887,149

DECK-CHAIR Filed Oct. 10, 1956 s Sheets-Sheet :s

United States Patent DECK-CHAIR Robert Cassin, Nice, France, assignor ofone-half to John M. Cassin, Beverly Hills, Calif.

Application October 10, 1956, Serial No. 615,171 Claims priority,application France April so, 1956 3 Claims. 01. 155-105 This inventionrelates to chairs. An object of the invention is to, provide an improveddeck-chair made of pivoted members preferably formed of metallic tubeswhich, by the play of their pivotal action, enable the seat to beadjusted to various positions, namely a mean position deck-chair forrelaxation, and on respective side of this mean position, a higherposition serving as an ordinary chair and a lower position to form a Inaccordance witha preferred embodiment of the invention, the frameworkofa deck-chair is composed of two articulated systems. One system, whichconstitutes the base of the seat, is composed of two members which willhereinafter be termed foot members, which are of U-shape. One of themembers has a width which is slightly less; than that of the other; and,when engaged inside the other, forms a cross with the other member. Afurther member is provided which will be termed a seat member, and whichis formed of two longitudinal meinbersl The assembly of these threemembers constitutes" a deformable triangular system, completed at itsbase by a fourth and lighter member which will be termed a foot stirrupmember and whichfforming a deformabl'e quadrilateral with theotherthree, is pivoted at the vicinity oflth'ebase of one of thea'two footmembers and can be engaged at different points on the other foot memberin such manner as to fix the first articulated system at difierentangular positions of the deformable quadrilateral, which positions willcorrespond to different heights of the seat member with respect to theground.

The second articulated system is formed by a further U-shaped memberwhich will be termed a back memher and which is pivotally attached atthe vicinity of its base to the upper extremity of one of the two footmembers. To the base of this back member is articulated a further andlighter member which will be termed a seat stirrup member, the functionof which, as will be explained in the text following, is to insure anautomatic variation in the length of the canvas which forms the seatproper, the said canvas being fixed at one of its extremities to theupper part of the back member and at its opposite extremity to the seatstirrup member. This second articulated system is provided, by way ofaccessories, with arm-rests mounted on pivoted rods.

A third portion of the deck-chair consists of an extension, also ofU-shape, which is slidably and adjust- .ably-mounted to form anextension towards the front and in line with the seat member in order toserve as a foot-rest.

Finally, the assembly of the articulated systems has been provided insuch manner that it takes up only a small space when folded.

Further features will be brought out in the description which followsbelow, with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which there hasbeen shown, by way of example, one embodiment of the deck-chairinvention.

In these drawings:

Figs. 1 to 3 are views of the deck-chair in side eleva- 2,887,149Patented May 19, 1959 2 tion, respectively arranged as a relaxationdeck-chair (Fig. 1), as an ordinary chair (Fig. 2), and as a couch (Fig.3).

Fig. 4 is a perspective view intended to show the details of the variousarticulations.

Fig. 5 is a view in elevation of the deck-chair in the folded position.

It is to be understood that in the drawings, in which, for the sake ofsimplicity, only one of the sides of the deck-chair has been shown,every member arranged parallel to a central vertical plane having acorresponding symmetrical part with respect to this plane.

The first articulated system comprises a first foot member in the formof a U, the arms of which are the upright members 1 and the base ofwhich is the crossmember 2 (see Fig. 4), the latter resting on theground,

preferably through the intermediary of fixed castors 3.

The other foot member, also in the shape of a U and of smaller width, ismade up of the uprights 4 and the cross-member 5 (Fig. 4), contact withthe ground being eliected through the medium of fixed casters 6. Thesetwo members, engaged one inside the other and crossed to form an X, arepivoted at their upper portions respectively at 7 and 8 to thelongitudinal. members 9 of the seat member. The assembly of the uprights1 and 4 and a longitudinal member 9 thus forms a deformable triangularsystem completed to form a quadrilateral by a foot stirrup 10, which ispivoted at 11 on the uprights 1, and the cross portion 12 of which (seeFig. 4) can be engaged in one or the other of the hooks 13 13 providedon the upright 4.

member 14, which is itself pivoted at 15 to the extremity of theupright 1. At the lower part of this back member 14 is pivoted at 16 theseat stirrup member 17;at a suitable part of this stirrup member isformed a bridge 18*adapted to come into engagement, at a certain stageof operation of the articulated systems, with a spindle 19 whichis anextension of the pivotal axis 7 of the members 1 and 9.

The canvas 20, which forms the seat proper, is retained at its upperextremity 20 on the top of the back member 14; at its oppositeextremity, this canvas 20, after having passed round a cross member 21,.which couples one of the two uprights 4 to the other as shown in Fig. 4,is then fixed at 22 on the stirrup member 17 of the seat. On the otherhand, an arm-rest 23 is pivoted at one of its extremities on the spindle15 and at its opposite extremity on an arm 24 which is pivoted in turnat 25 on the seat stirrup member 17.

The deck-chair comprises in addition an extension member 26 in the formof a U, which is slidably-mounted on the front of the longitudinal seatmembers 9, as an extension of these latter and is engaged to this end intubular guides 27, which are rigidly fixed to the said longitudinalmembers. This extension is: provided with a certain number of notches 28by means of which it can be fixed in various positions of extension, byen gagement of any one of these notches with a bolt 29. Finally, thedeck-chair is provided on each of its sides, with a further bolt 30,pivoted at 31 on the upright 1, and in which is formed at least onenotch 32 adapted to engage a spindle 33 provided on the longitudinalmember 9.

The operations to be effected in order to carry out the varioustransformations of the deck-chair are as follows:

Referring to Fig. 1 which shows the deck-chair in its mean position,especially suitable for relaxation, the member 10 is engaged in thelower hook 13 of the upright 4; on the other hand, the seat member 14 isroughly an extension of the upright 1 of the foot member, whichcorresponds to the maximum angular opening a which the back can assumewith respect to the seat longitudinal members 9. The seat stirrup 17 isin its most forward position, so that the total length of the canvas 20is employed. The foot-rest extension 26 may be pulled towards the frontat the will of the user, by sliding the same inside the guide-tubes 27to the length desired, and can then be fixed in the chosen position byengaging the bolt 29 in the appropriate slot 28 of this extension. Also,at the will of the user, the deck-chair can be locked in this positionby engagement of the bolt 30 on the abutment 33.

In order to pass to the ordinary chair position shown in Fig. 2, it isonly necessary to cause the back 14 to pivot with respect to the seatmember 9 about the axis 7 in the direction which reduces the angularopening on. In this movement, the seat stirrup member is brought back inthe direction of the. arrow which on the one hand brings the bridge 18into engagement with the spindle 19, and, on the other hand, carrieswith it, in the same direction, the lower extremity of the canvas 20,the useful length of the said canvas being thereby shortened tocorrespond. The height of the seat remains the same, the foot stirrupremaining engaged in the lower hook 13 of the upright 4. The foot-restextension 26 is fully pushed in, as shown in the figure. Returning tothe mean position shown in Fig. 1, starting from this mean posi tion andproceeding in the opposite sense, the chair can be changed to the couch,position shown in Fig. 3.

To this end, it is only necessary to reduce the height of the seat byhooking the foot stirrup 10 in the upper hook 13 instead of inthe lowerhook 13 of the upright 4, so as to reduce the angle ,8 at which theupright 1 and the back 14 are inclined with respect to the ground. Inorder to facilitate this operation, one of the arms of the foot stirrup10 may be made in the shape of a pedal 34 (see Fig. 4) to which pressureis applied in order to keep this stirrup raised temporarily.

As in the case of the position shown in Fig. 1, the footrest extensionmay be moved towards the front, at the will of the user, to the desiredlength, and is then locked in this position. The use of the bolt 30 isoptional.

Fig. 5 shows the deck-chair in the folded position for transport orstorage when not in use.

What I claim is:

1. A deck-chair including pivoted parts, adapted for use in threeselected positions, and comprising: a first foot member of substantiallyU-shaped configuration, a second foot member consisting of twotransverse elements and two upstanding elements joined to form a framefitted inside the first foot member to define a cross therewith, twolongitudinal seat members, spindles pivoting the seat members to theupper part of both foot members, a foot stirrup member pivoted to thelower part of one of the foot members, means for adjustably hooking thefoot stirrup member selectively to different 10- cations at the lowerpart of the other foot member, a back member pivoted to the upper partof the first foot member, a seat stirrup member pivoted to the lowerpart of the back member and including two bridges adapted to engage thespindles pivoting the longitudinal seat members to the upper part of thefirst foot member, and a canvas seat sling fixed at one end to the upperpart of the back member, extending around the upper transverse elementof the second foot member and fixed at the other end to the seat stirrupmember.

2. A deck-chair as in claim 1 further comprising an extension member ofU-shaped configuration having arms,

slidable in the longitudinal seat members and means IfOI locking theextension member in selected positions.

3. A deck-chair as in claim 1 comprising at least one bolt pivoted tothe first foot member and having at least one notch positioned to engagea spindle on one of the longitudinal seat members.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS294,973 Deppen .l.. Mar, 11, 1884 2,048,147 Staley July 21, 19362,697,476 Tripodi et al Dec. 21, 1954 FOREIGN PATENTS 215,559 GreatBritain May 15, 1924 296,580 Great Britain Sept. 6, 1928

